San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks said Friday that while he agrees in theory with a new federal policy announced last week against deporting illegal immigrants arrested for minor misdemeanor offenses, he's waiting to see the list of exempted crimes.

"Where the work has yet to be done is determining what is the low-level offense," Munks said in a phone interview. "Where do we draw that line?"

On Dec. 21, Immigration and Customs Enforcement put out a news release stating that federal agents would no longer detain individuals arrested for "minor misdemeanor offenses such as traffic offenses and other petty crimes" in order to focus resources on felons, repeat offenders and other agency priorities. The exemption did not apply to individuals charged or arrested on misdemeanors involving violence, threats or assaults; sexual abuse or exploitation; driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol; unlawful flight from an accident; illegal possession or use of a firearm or other deadly weapon; the distribution or trafficking of drugs; or "other significant threat to public safety," among other conditions.

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A memo outlining the revised detention guidelines said more details on which crimes warranted possible deportation would be forthcoming.

While some petty crimes, like public intoxication, seem to have less of an impact on public safety, others can be less conclusive, Munks said.

"Petty theft: someone might steal a loaf of bread to feed their family. But if someone is a thief preying on the community, that's a different story," he said.

Under a national program called Secure Communities, the fingerprints of all arrestees are sent to ICE. The federal agency can then ask local law enforcement to hold suspected illegal immigrants for up to 48 hours after their scheduled release so federal agents can take the individuals into custody for possible deportation.

Earlier this month, California Attorney General Kamala Harris informed the state's law enforcement agencies that they were not required to comply with the federal immigration detention requests.

While some counties, including San Francisco, had already made decisions not to hold low-level offenders for ICE, Harris' announcement gave more legal heft to the position that the federal requests were voluntary. Last year, Santa Clara County supervisors voted to deny ICE detention requests unless the federal agency paid for the jail holds.

San Mateo County has considered the Secure Communities program as mandatory and has fully complied with requests for ICE holds, Munks said.

Supervisor Dave Pine said he'd like to see San Mateo County review its approach to immigration holds and not hand over illegal immigrants who have been arrested for low-level crimes and who "don't pose a risk for public safety."

Harris' announcement bolsters that argument, he said.

"We have been invited to exercise discretion and I believe we absolutely should," Pine said in a phone interview Friday. "I think it would be helpful for the county to have an open discussion about where to draw that line."

Munks said while he's waiting on the new federal guidelines, his office is currently collecting information from the federal government on what detention holds in San Mateo County resulted in deportation. Based on that information and on conversations with other sheriffs, Munks may reconsider the county's policy of complying with every ICE request.

"If we decided to make some changes, we'd be very thoughtful about it," Munks said.

State legislation that would restrict detentions only to individuals convicted of a "serious or violent felony" was introduced by state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, earlier this month. The legislature previously passed an earlier version also written by Ammiano, but Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it in September.